Sunday, September 19, 2010

International Aid

Support for International AID
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3 comments:

david cameron's forehead said...

I don't think aid or health should have been ringfenced as I think it's plain silly to say or imply that the money is all wisely spent.

I have no objection to the idea of aid but I do think it should be closely looked at to see whether it works because often it doesn't. I will donate my own money, what little of it I had. In Pakistan with the floods I gave to Medicins Sans Frontieres because I know it will thereby be rationally spent rather than falling into the hands of Islamists, NGO empire builders, corrupt governments, random power players that I'd rather not enrich.

If you ask me, the very worst use of public money is giving it to "private sector" companies. I oppose half the outsourcing cases, I think if something is going to be done it's often less statist to have the government do it outright than pick favoured companies to subsidise. A lot of my friends don't have jobs, yet their dole costs a lot less than paying a salary to some bellend who wouldn't be able to earn it.

What I am concerned by now is that the spending I most dislike isn't going to be cut. There certainly will be pain, worthwhile causes & decent people losing out, yet I think we could do more to minimise that.

6:01 pm
Page With A View said...

Good spot.

Overseas aid should have been first for the chop, not ringfenced. It's £9bn a year we do not have – it is obscene to put thousands of UK workers on the dole and make life hell for the rest of us, whilst at the same time actually borrowing £9bn to fritter away on 102 countries – often of very dubious provenance.

We even give £50m to China – one of our biggest industrial competitors with an appalling human rights record. And far more to India – not just most of our IT jobs...

In a time of plenty the government, like the public, can afford to be generous, and give more in charity and aid.

But in desperate times, when the country is broke, you have to stop trying to save the world – save your own country first. Remember the Labour ‘jobs tax’ of £6bn NI increases? Before the election the parties spent weeks arguing over where else that £6bn could come from. Now we know.

7:36 pm
Newmania said...

Why thankyou I must say I chiefly use this blog just for my own purposes and I was planning to do something on Lewes Forum . You comments shall go into the mix

9:03 am

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